


Come Home

by turtle_abyss



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Ghost Lu Ten, Ghosts, Grief/Mourning, Zuko (Avatar) Needs a Hug, and he gets one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:02:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27356959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turtle_abyss/pseuds/turtle_abyss
Summary: In the shadow of the wall, untouched by the sun, he thinks he sees his cousin at his side."I miss you," Zuko whispers tentatively.
Relationships: Lu Ten & Zuko
Comments: 16
Kudos: 157
Collections: Quality Fics





	Come Home

**Author's Note:**

> This is entirely unedited. Just a quick little thing I typed out last night. So it might be a little rough. No beta we die like tired writers.

Zuko walks out towards the Outer Wall under the pretense of looking for a job in the farming district. The sprouting bits of green crops and the relative emptiness of the open fields are a relief from the cramped Lower Ring, even as the walls loom over him, more enormous than he'd ever imagined as a child.

The red-orange light of the sunset peeks just over the edges, lighting scattered clouds pink as Ty Lee’s sunny disposition.

He breathes deeply. Takes in the clean air and lets it sit heavy in his lungs. Lays a hand on the wall. It's cooler than he expected.

He tries to imagine this wall breached. The stone crumbled. The soldiers in red climbing over into these fields. The soldiers in red crushed by surprise boulders and swallowed by the earth.

Lu Ten died here at sunset.

He rests his forehead against the smooth stone and wishes he could make a proper memorial. Wishes he could light candles and incense and bow and pray. But he can’t.

Instead, he walks.

In the shadow of the wall, untouched by the sun, he thinks he sees his cousin at his side.

"I miss you," he whispers tentatively, afraid of the grief he's buried deep for so long. Afraid he's imagining the reassuring weight of a hand on his left shoulder. Afraid to turn his head so his good eye can see and have it all disappear like a dream.

"Uncle misses you too, of course." He drags his fingertips along the wall. "But I- I miss you a lot."

Lu Ten walks with him and there's just something so reassuring about that, something so  _ safe _ about that, that Zuko can't stop the sting of tears or the sob building in his throat.

"I'm scared, Lu Ten," he admits so quietly he doubts the ghost could hear him. "Uncle wants me to be something I don't think I can be. Father wants the same, but different, and I don't think I can do that either. And Azula...She scares me. She scares me more than she did before."

He ducks his head and tries to blink back the tears. The ghost doesn't leave.

"And this, here, it's supposed to be safe, but it's all a lie. And you know I've never been very good at pretending. I can't ignore what's happening outside these walls. I can't ignore who I am."

Lu Ten doesn’t say anything, but that’s okay. Lu Ten’s always been a good listener when he couldn’t cheer everyone up.

"And I'm so angry,” he admits, ashamed. “I keep messing things up and yelling at Uncle and I don't know why, but he never gets mad at me? Why doesn't he ever get mad at me, Lu Ten?"

There's a hand in his shorn hair and he closes his eyes tight, so so afraid to look.

So afraid to be wrong.

"I wanna go home," he whispers, choked, and his head is tugged down and his face presses to cold metal armor and his hand comes up reflexively to grasp at the idea of smooth silk.

His tears are wet on his face.

"I miss you," he whispers again, and something cracks open in his chest and the pressure in his throat is too much. 

_ "I miss you so much," _ he sobs, and wraps his arms around his own stomach both to try to maintain the illusion and to try to hold himself together. “You were supposed to come  _ home _ .”

If Lu Ten hadn't died, things would be better. Right? They'd have to be. Lu Ten was amazing and he'd always made everything better and even Azula had liked him, though she pretended not to.

There's a whisper in his ear, but he can't make out the words and it might just be the wind, but he holds on tight to the dream and twists his fingers even tighter into the cloth at his sides. 

_ 'Get it together, Zuko,' _ he tells himself. He's always been such a crybaby in front of Lu Ten. He's so embarrassing.

But Lu Ten liked him anyway.

He feels it in his chest when the sun sets. That sinking feeling down into his stomach. He scrubs at his face with his sleeve and his breath rattles wetly as he pulls himself back together.

He feels...better. A little. Even though his eyes are sore and his chest hurts.

That feeling of a hand on his head ruffles his hair and he thinks he hears a fond laugh.

When he finally opens his eyes, it's dark out.

"Uncle will worry if I'm not back soon," he murmurs roughly, pushing away from the stone wall. His sleeve catches as he turns back down the road and he freezes.

_ "I missed you too," _ says a familiar voice on the wind, warm and relaxed like freshly raked embers.  _ "Let me walk you back, baby cousin." _

“I’m not a baby,” he complains roughly, smiling, and ducks a swipe to the head even though he sees nothing in the darkness. He imagines a playful smile. He imagines a teasing grin.

His heart aches.

“I really really miss you,” he doesn’t say again.

He thinks he catches sight of that familiar grin in the candlelight of his and Uncle’s apartment anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me if you liked anything? I love you guys. Sorry I keep breaking your hearts with my sad stuff. Except I'm not sorry at all.


End file.
